What do you guys think about "sellout songs"

[Karlos Santos]

Its a very dangerous thing accusing someone or something of being a Sell Out . Theres ALWAYS someone who thinks they are way cooler, way more scene, way more indie than you. Sell Out is a fucking lame term.

Its far easier going up your own arse and playing a set of tunes no-one has heard and being 'cool' than it is working a set that appeals to both the 'cool kids' and the 'top40 kids'.

All depends on the club and whos there.
I did a BBQ on saturday and played an hour of stuff i liked and rocked the place.
Im doing a club tonite where the peeps will want to know all the tunes and i wont like most of them, ill still rock the place. Job done.

I have fun at one gig and i get paid at another.
If that makes me a Sell Out then cool , ill wear a badge that says Sell Out but im still respected in my locality by the whole clubbing community.

You dont HAVE to make a choice.

If you dont want to play 'commercially successful music' dont do it.
But it doesnt mean that people who do play commercial stuff (when needed) cant do the niche stuff as well. In fact id say the more music knowledge you have the better.
Music snobbery stinks of shit.

[BentoSan]

Music snobbery stinks of shit.

Amen brother !

[Midi Kids]

+100000 to karlos pretty much summed up how i felt on the whole thing haha

[djhipnotikk]

How is that any different from releasing a track thats a "sell out" - dropping a "sell out" track in a club and dropping a "sell out" track on a release are both doing the same thing : trying to cater for a wider audience.

i'm saying, you may drop it in the club, but you wouldn't do it on your personal sets. but like karlos said, despite where you drop it you still gotta rock it.

??

trill = too real

[Chilly]

I associate the phrase 'sell out' with jealousy.

Don't hate 'cos someone hit the mainstream and is making $!

[DvlsAdvct]

I'd love to become a "sell-out" and start actually being able to afford to DJ, without it just slowly eating away at my funds.

Now, I want to do that with the music that I love to spin. But this whole "sell out" thing is really weird. If selling out means success, but staying underground requires me to live in a shitty studio apartment and eat nothing but pasta and raman and beg people for gigs cause the market has become so saturated with other 'underground' DJs who suck willing to spin for free and promoters willing to book them because they have no concept of the fact that the crowd gives a shit then, well, fine. You can have your underground cred while I'm trying to, y'know, survive.

[sarasin]

Underground is a bullshit term for youngsters wanting to find a cool alternative for whats commercial.

Look at Psytrance.....thats supposed to be underground (the harder beats anywayz) but you can only do it for a few years until you realise there is no money in it.

Everyone gets beyond that and wants to make a living.

Enter commercialism. Its too easy to go that way.

I respect guys like Radiohead who put their album up for FREE....to prove that their fans will carry them instead of the Rec Labels.

To me....that is the way to go.

Getting paid top dollar by a Rec Label to do something you are not into....

THAT is sellout!

[djhipnotikk]

exactly. selling out does not mean success. it simply means you're getting paid to do things your heart is not in. if a record exec comes up to a dnb dj and says "hey make a song that doesn't sound like anything you listen to or like, and we'll give you mad $$$" - if he does it, he's a sell out. he sold his soul to the corporate devil.

[Chilly]

I don't care. More $ = Happier Chilly.

Sign me up to "Sell Out"!

[wrong chris]

All depends on the club and whos there.
I did a BBQ on saturday and played an hour of stuff i liked and rocked the place.
Im doing a club tonite where the peeps will want to know all the tunes and i wont like most of them, ill still rock the place. Job done.
.

It's a little bit of different story if the gig your playing for stipulates a certain genre like in your case a top40 night. Then yeah ofcourse you're not going to play exactly what you want if your preference is for other genres. So I agree with you that it does depend on the gig.

I think the OPs definition of what constitutes a sellout song is a bit foggy. Me personally, I enjoy alot of "sellout music" so if I do include more recognizable songs in my sets it's not a personal issue. What I would have an issue with is playing songs i absolutely do not enjoy if I had carte blanche to choose otherwise.